Improvement in railway-telegraphs



B. CADE.

v RAILWAY-TELEGRAPH. No. 171,350. Patented Dec. 21,1875.

JIIIIILIIIILTllIIIIIIII NFETERS, PHDTO-LITHDGFLWHER. WASHINGTON. D C

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFIGE.

BAYLUs OADE, or SOOTTS DEPOT, wEsT VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-TELEGRAPHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 171,350, dated December 21, 1875; application filed October 27, 1875.

' To all whom it may concern points placed between the rails; Fig. 3, a detail of the shunting contact-points.

The object of this invention is to reduce the risks incident to life and property upon railway-lines, resulting from an ignorance on the part of the train-men of the condition of the road, and the position of other trains thereupon. V

The invention has in view the placing and keeping of all of the trains upon the route in a single telegraphic circuit, which is continuous from one end of the line to the other, and is never broken, whereby each moving train is in itself a station which is in communication with all the other trains as well as the terminal and intermediate fixed stations, by

means of which arrangement one train may telegraph to the train preceding or following it, or to any one of the fixed stations, and the messages sent from one point to another are reproduced in the usual way upon all of the intermediate trains and stations.

In the drawing, A represents a line of railway, in between the rails of which, or upon the outside, if desirable, is placed the telegraph-wires B, which run from one to another of a set of shunting contact-points which are placed at stated and regular intervals apart. The said points consist of bent arms (3, to which the telegraph-wires are attached, the lower limb of which said bent arm is attached,

through an insulated connection, I), to a spring-base, E. The extremities of the lower ends of the arms 0 rest habitually from the wire B alternating upon opposite sides of the track, and connecting two arms upon one side and then two upon the other, form a continuous line of telegraph, which is capable of being broken and shunted by the arms whenever the said arms are lifted from the plate F. Upon the locomotive or one of the cars of the train is placed an ordinary telegraphic instrument, wh ose poles are attached, through wires 0. a, to metallic plates G G, insulated from each other upon opposite sides of a bar, H, which said plates form electrodes upon the car. When the telegraph-wire is located in between the rails, as here shown, said bar is attached to the lower part of the car, and is suspended beneath the same in suitable position to pass between the contact-points; but when the wire is outside of the rails said bar is attached to the extension of the truck, in which position it is free from the vibration produced by the springs of the car.

The operation of the device is as follows: When the car carryingthe telegraph instrument enters the track the bar H passes between the contact-points 0, %he ends of the bar being made pointed, and the upper extension of the bent arms constituting the contact-points being made of such a shape as to facilitate the entrance and passage of the said bar therethrough. As soon as the contact-points are pressed apart by the bar the lower ends of the arms are lifted from plate F, and the current is shunted through the telegraphic instrument by means of the metallic plates G G and the wires a a, so that the said instrument is thrown into the circuit, Now, the bar H being made long enough to enter a second set of the contact-points before it leaves the first, it will be seen that the instrument upon the car is always in the telegraphic circuit, and the train-men may, even when the train is in motion, be in possession of all the information with respect to the road and their relation to other trains that the telegraph is capable of transmitting. I

I am aware of the fact that the idea of placing and keeping a moving train always in the same telegraphic circuit is not broadly new; and in defining the limits of my invention I only claim my improved means for accomplishing this result.

Having thus described my invention, what 2. The combination of the spring E, the in= I claim as new is sulated bent arms 0, and. the insulated metal- 1. The combination, with the spring-seated lic plate F, as and for the purpose described.

shunting contact-arms O and the insulated The above specification of my invention plate F, of the sections ofwire B, connecting signed by me this 12th day of August, 1875.

alternately the arms upon opposite sides of the tracks and the insulated plates G G elec- BAYLUS (JADE. trically connected with the opposite poles of Witnesses: the instrument upon the car, substantially as SOLON G. KEMoN,

described. CHAS. A. PETTIT. 

